Sunday, June 11, 2017

The Unite Against Hate march, organised by Gays Against Sharia, has been branded a “far right” protest by the BBC, the broadcaster whitewashing reports of violent “anti-racists” throwing bottles and flairs at the march organised by gay, Sikh, and black speakers.

The march through Manchester was organised to “honour the victims of hate” following the suicide attack by Salman Abedi who killed 22 and injured 116 at an Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017.

The march also marked the death of 49 people who lost their lives at Pulse – a gay club in Orlando, Florida, at the hands of an Islamic terrorist on June 12, 2016.

The event hosted black and minority ethnic (BAME) speakers, such as Sikh Awareness Society leader Mohan Singh, minister David Ramos, Shazia Hobbs, a Glaswegian who was forced into an arranged marriage at 18, and Mohammed Fiaz, a Christian convert from Islam.

One of the organisers of the Unite Against Hate march is Tommy English, a fellow traveller of Tommy Robinson’s and former leader of the English Defence League’s LGBT group who now runs Gays Against Sharia.

“We will say ‘no more’, we will walk in silence through the city to honour the dead, we will rally to demand action, we will make ourselves impossible to ignore,” the organisers of Unite Against Hate wrote.

However, the BBC largely ignored the reported 3,500 diverse supporters attending the march that met in Picadilly Gardens, Manchester, rather reporting falsely the event was an “EDL rally”, focusing on the “anti-racist” counter marches.

BBC North West tweeted: “Bottles and flares thrown during tense stand-off in Manchester after march organised by far right groups confronted by 100’s of anti-racists.”

Reports by the BBC imply bottles and flares were thrown by the so-called “far right” group of BAME and LGBT attendees, with others reporting from the ground saying the projectiles were thrown by the “anti-racists”, one allegedly hitting a 12-year-old girl.

Though deleting an earlier tweet calling the anti-terror march an “EDL rally”, the BBC kept the tweet that read: “Police say they’re determined to keep the peace & minimise disruption when English Defence League stage silent march in Manchester at 2pm.”

Meanwhile, Twitter users and attendees blasted the BBC’s dishonest reporting, denying the event was an EDL rally, pointing to the ex-Muslims, Sikhs, Jamaicans, and gays who attended in support of uniting against Islamist terrorism, and against the rise of Sharia law and Islamic extremism.

Attendees at the event also rejected local media Manchester Evening News reports that protests had “turned nasty” calling them “fake news”. MEN described the event as being “led by former EDL leader Tommy Robinson”, but fails to mention the more than half a dozen other LGBT and BAME organisers.